This sermon is famous as Khutba al-Ashbah and is counted among the most elevated sermons of the Commander of the Faithful. It was delivered in response to a questioner who asked him to describe the attributes of the Creator of the world in such a way that it would seem as if we were seeing Him with our own eyes. Upon this, the Imam became angry and said: All praise is to Allah, Who does not become wealthy by withholding His bounty and giving, and never becomes incapable or deficient in generosity and giving. For every giver other than Him, there is a decrease in giving, and they can be considered bad when they withhold their hands. He is the One who makes grateful through beneficial blessings, abundant gifts, and the distribution of sustenance. All creation is His family. He has appointed sustenance for all. He has opened the way for those who desire Him and seek His blessings. He is as generous when the hand of request is not extended as when the hand of request and supplication is extended. He is such a First that there is no 'before' for Him, so nothing can be before Him, and such a Last that there is no 'after' for Him, so nothing can be supposed after Him. He prevents the pupils of eyes (from afar) from reaching Him or knowing His reality. Different periods of time do not pass over Him that would cause change in His state. He is not in any place so that movement would be correct for Him. If He gives precious metals like silver and gold that mountains' mines exhale with long breaths, and scattered pearls and cut branches of coral that river shells laughingly expel, it does not affect His giving, nor can His treasury of wealth be exhausted. And still there remain with Him such treasures of bounties and honors that people's demands cannot finish. For He is such a generous one that fulfilling requests cannot make Him poor, and the excessive insistence of those who supplicate cannot incline Him to miserliness. O you who seek (Allah's attributes)! Follow the attributes that the Quran has informed you about, and continue to gain light from His light of guidance. And leave the knowledge of things that are not obligatory in the Quran, and whose name and sign are not in the Sunnah of the Prophet and the Imams of guidance, and which only Satan has troubled you to know, to Allah alone. This is the final limit of Allah's right upon you. And remember that those who are firm and established in knowledge are those who acknowledge (and believe in) all things hidden behind the veils of the unseen in a general way, even though they do not know their interpretation and details. This acknowledgment has made them needless of penetrating into the veils covering the unseen. And Allah has praised them for this that they acknowledge their incapacity to reach what is beyond their scope of knowledge. And the abandonment of depth and effort in things whose reality Allah has not burdened them to discuss is called firmness. So suffice with this and do not limit Allah's greatness according to the measure of your intellect, lest you be counted among the destroyed. He is such a Powerful One that when imagination shoots its arrows to know the limit of His power, and thought is freed from all kinds of doubts to become aware of the deep secrets of His pen and kingdom, and hearts run eagerly to understand the quality of His attributes, and the paths of intellects' search and quest for knowing the Divine Essence have gone beyond the limit of expression, then Allah, at that moment when they are crossing the depths of the darkness of the unseen, turns them all back (with names). So when they return having been defeated, they must acknowledge that His knowledge cannot be found through such straying, nor can the slightest trace of His honor's majesty and glory come into the hearts of thought-measurers. He is the One who created creatures without having any example before Him, and without copying things created by any other creator or deity before Him. Through His kingdom of power and through those amazing things in which the traces of His wisdom and knowledge are speaking, and through creation's acknowledgment that it needs His support in its stopping and standing, He has shown us things that have guided us to His knowledge through the pressure of proof being established, and in those amazing created things, the patterns of His craftsmanship and traces of His wisdom are prominent and clear. So every creature has become a proof and evidence for Him. Even if it is a silent creature, it is a speaking proof of Allah's planning and workmanship, and its guidance to the existence of the Creator remains established and permanent. I bear witness that whoever likened You to Your own creation from the separation of their limbs and the joining of heads from joints covered in flesh and skin through Your wisdom's workmanship, has not connected his hidden conscience to Your knowledge, and his heart has not been touched by the certainty that You have no partner. It is as if he has not heard the saying of the followers who, desiring to distance themselves from their leaders, will say: 'By Allah! We were indeed in clear misguidance when we used to equate you with the Lord of the worlds.' False are those who equate You with others, likening You to their idols, and in their imagination attaching the attributes of creatures to You, and in their thought dividing You into parts like the joints of physical things are separated, and according to their intellect's understanding, comparing You to creatures with different powers. I bear witness that whoever equated You with any of Your creation has made You a peer. And whoever makes You a peer is a denier of the contents of Your Book's firm verses and the realities that clear proofs from Your side are clarifying. You are Allah, Who cannot be contained within the limits of intellects, accepting qualities by coming within the range of their thinking, nor can You be limited within the scope of their reflection so that You become limited and bound to their mental operations. A part of this sermon is: He set a measure for the things He created, firm and stable, and arranged them, excellent and pure, and set them on their course so that they neither exceed the limits of their final destination nor fall short of reaching the ultimate goal. When they were commanded to proceed according to Allah's will, they did not disobey, and how could they, when all matters issue from His will and desire. He is the Originator of speaking things without referring to any thought, and without any natural activity that one might hide in the heart, and without any experience gained from time's events, and without any partner who would be His helper and assistant in creating these amazing things. So creation was completed, and it bowed its head to Allah's obedience and advanced saying 'Here I am' in response to His call. Neither the slowness of a procrastinator became attached to it, nor the slackness and looseness of one making excuses became an obstacle. He straightened their crookedness and set their limits. And through His power, He created harmony and compatibility in these contradictory things, and joined the bonds of souls (to bodies) and divided them into different species, which are separate in their limits, measures, natures, and forms. This is a newly created creature whose structure He made firm and created and originated according to His will. A part of this sermon is in the description of the sky: He arranged the depressions and elevations of its fissures without connecting them to anything, and joined the expanses of its cracks and bound them together with each other, and made the difficulty of its heights easy for those who descend with His commands and those who ascend with the actions of creation. The sky was still in the form of smoke when Allah called it, so immediately the bonds of their connections became connected. He opened their closed doors after they were closed, and set guardians of shooting stars at their openings, and restrained them with His power lest they go astray in the expanse of air, and commanded them to remain at their centers, bowing before His command. He has made the sun of the firmament a bright sign for day and the moon a dim sign for night, and has set them on their courses and determined their speeds in their paths so that day and night can be distinguished through them, and years and (other) calculations can be known by their reckoning. Then He suspended this firmament in the celestial space and suspended in it, for its decoration, stars like scattered pearls and shining lamps, and shot shooting stars as arrows at those who listen secretly, and set the stars on their courses with His compulsion and power, some fixed and some moving, sometimes rising and sometimes setting, some with misfortune and some with fortune. A part of this sermon is in the description of angels: Then Allah the Exalted created the amazing creation of angels to dwell in His heavens and populate the high levels of His kingdom. He filled every corner of the wide paths of the sky with them and covered every corner of the expanses of its space. The voices of the angels who glorify resound in the vast expanses of those wide sides, within the walls of sanctity and purity, the deep veils of greatness, and the curtains of majesty and glory. Behind this resonance that deafens ears, there are such abundances of manifestations of light that prevent eyes from reaching them. So they remain in their place, unsuccessful and disappointed. Allah created them (angels) in separate forms and different measures. They have wings and feathers and continuously glorify His majesty and honor. They do not attribute to themselves the crafts that have appeared in creation, nor do they claim that they can create anything in whose creation He is unique and one. Rather, they are His honored servants who do not precede Him in saying anything, and they act according to His saying. Allah has sent them to messengers as trustees of His revelation and bearers of His commands and prohibitions, and has protected them from the slips of doubt and suspicion. So none of them is one who shies away from the path of seeking His pleasure. And He has supported them with His success and assistance, and covered their hearts with the humility and brokenness of submission and humility, and opened the doors of ease of glorification and sanctification for them, and erected bright minarets for them on the signs of His oneness. Neither the burdens of sins have weighed them down, nor have the rotations of night and day saddled them (for riding), nor have doubts and suspicions shot arrows at the firmness of their faith, nor have (imaginations and) conjectures attacked the solidity of their certainty. Nor have sparks of enmity and jealousy ever flared among them. Nor have bewilderment and confusion been able to snatch the knowledge that has permeated their hearts and the greatness of the Lord and the awe of divine majesty that has settled in the depths of their chests. Nor have whispers ever sharpened their teeth against them to taint their thoughts with rust and disturbance. Among them are some who are in the forms of Allah's created heavy clouds and the heights of high mountains and the darkness of dense darkness, and among them are some whose feet have pierced through the limits of the lowest depths. So they are like white banners that have advanced giving the expanse of space, and at the end of these banners, a light wind is blowing that restrains them. The occupations of worship have made these angels needless of everything. And the solid beliefs of faith have become for them a means to the knowledge of Allah, and the bond of certainty has turned them away from others and attached their love to Him alone. They have no desire for the gifts and bounties of any other than Allah's bounties. They have tasted the sweet flavors of knowledge and are intoxicated with the quenching cup of His love. And the fear of Him has taken root in the depths of their hearts, so they have bent their straight backs with long and wide acts of worship, and despite being constantly engaged in seeking Him, their stores of supplication and humility do not end, and despite the heights of nearness to Allah, the nooses of fear and humility do not come off their (necks). Nor does self-conceit ever arise in them that they would consider their past actions more, nor has their humility and lowliness before the majesty of the Lord given them the opportunity to consider their good deeds great. Despite continuously bearing fatigue, laziness does not come to them, nor has there ever been a decrease in their seeking and desire that they would turn away from their Lord's expectations, nor do the tips of their tongues dry from continuous supplications, nor has it ever happened that they would lower the voices of supplication and entreaty due to other occupations, nor do their shoulders go forward and backward in the rows of worship, nor do they turn their necks here and there, neglecting the execution of His commands for the sake of rest and comfort. Nor do the ignorances of negligence attack the resolve of their efforts, nor do deceiving whispers pass through their (high) ambitions. They have made the Possessor of the Throne their store for the day of need, and when other people advance with their desires toward creatures, these only attach their love to Him. They cannot reach the limit of His worship. The passionate longing for worship (instead of taking them elsewhere) takes them to those very springs of their heart's hope and fear, whose sources never stop. The existence of fear has not ended so that they would be lazy in their efforts, nor have the greed of the world gripped them that they would prefer temporary efforts for the world over this struggle, nor have they ever considered their past actions great, and if they did, then hopes would erase the fears of Allah from their (pages of hearts). Nor has there ever been any disagreement among them regarding their Lord due to Satan's deception, nor have they become scattered and dispersed due to cutting off from each other (and creating discord), nor has enmity and hatred arisen in their hearts due to jealousy toward each other, nor have they become scattered due to falling into doubts and suspicions. Nor have low ambitions ever seized them. They are bound by faith, and crookedness, turning away, laziness, or idleness have never freed them from its bonds. On the surface of the sky, there is not even a skin's worth of space where there is not a prostrating angel or a swiftly moving angel. Their knowledge increases with the increase of the Lord's obedience, and the greatness and majesty of His honor increases in their hearts. A part of this sermon is: 'In which the condition of the earth and its being spread over water is described': (Allah) spread the earth over the terrifying waves that were rising and falling and the extreme depths of full seas, where waves were colliding with waves and taking blows, and waves were pushing waves and resounding, and throwing them about like a male camel in the state of intoxication and excitement. So the surges of this turbulent water subsided under the pressure of the earth's heavy burden, and when He pressed His chest against it and calmed it, all the excitement and fervor cooled down, and when He turned back, pressing His shoulders against it, it became submissive with humility and lowliness. Where its waves were roaring, now it became still, helpless and powerless, and became obedient, captive in the reins of humiliation. The earth spread its skirt in the depths of this stormy water and stopped its rising and head-raising pride and arrogance, and ended its rising and showing superiority and elevation in flow. And He placed such barriers on the excesses of its flow that it stopped after jumping, completely out of breath, and stopped after showing the intoxications of leaps and bounds. When the force and intensity of the water's surge subsided under its edges, and the burden of high and wide mountains was loaded on its shoulders, then (Allah) caused springs of water to flow from its nose's passages, which He spread in distant wildernesses and dug pits. And He created moderation in its movement through firmly fixed rocks and stone mountains with high peaks. So its trembling ceased due to the mountains sinking into different parts of its surface and penetrating into the depths of its bottom, and riding on the heights of its level parts and low surfaces. And Allah created expansion and width from the earth to the vast space, and provided air for breathing for those who live in it, and settled those who dwell in it with all their needs. Then He did not leave the barren lands, whose heights neither spring water nor river streams can reach, without any means of reaching there, but created for them clouds that rise on air, which run streams of life in dead earth and grow grass from it. He gathered the scattered bright pieces of clouds and scattered clouds to make a comprehensive cloud, and when the stores of water within it moved and lightning flashed in its edges, and the flash of lightning continued flowing within the layers of white clouds and dense clouds, then Allah sent them to pour down torrential rain. In such a way that its water-filled heavy pieces were descending to the earth, and southern winds were causing them to pour down drops of heavy rain and sudden downpours of rain. When the clouds pressed their chests with hands and feet against the earth and threw all their loaded burden of water on it, then Allah grew green fields from the barren lands and spread green vegetation on the dry mountains. The earth also began to dance with joy from the adornment of its meadows and began to show off from the veils of blossoms that were draped on it and the ornaments of fresh and verdant buds that were adorned on it. Allah has made these things a means of people's life and sustenance for quadrupeds, and He has opened wide paths in the directions of the earth, and erected minarets of light for those who travel on its highways. When Allah spread the carpet of the earth and completed His work, He chose Adam (peace be upon him) for being chosen over other creation and made him the first individual of the human species. And He settled him in His Paradise, where He arranged for them to eat and drink with open hearts, and what was to be forbidden, He had already warned them about it before, and informed them that stepping toward it is deviation from the command and putting one's position in danger. But they turned to what they were forbidden from, as was already in His knowledge. So after repentance, He sent them down from Paradise, so that He might populate His earth with their offspring and present proof to the servants through them. After taking Adam (peace be upon him), Allah did not leave His creation empty of things that would strengthen the proofs of His lordship and be a means of His knowledge for the servants. And from time to time, in every era, He renewed the presentation of proof through the tongues of His chosen prophets and trustees of prophethood. Until through our Prophet, that proof was (completely) completed, and the completion of proof and being warned reached their point of conclusion. He has appointed sustenance (more for some and less for others), and in its distribution, He has placed restriction in some places and abundance in others, and this was completely according to justice, in such a way that He tested as He willed, with ease or difficulty of sustenance, and tested the gratitude and patience of the rich and poor. Then He has placed the dangers of poverty and hunger along with the abundances of sustenance, and the anxieties of new calamities in its safety, and the suffocating nooses of grief and anger along with the joys of abundance and width. He has appointed the terms of life (different for each), more for some and less for others, advanced some and delayed others, and tied the knots of death to the ropes of these terms, and death pulls them and breaks their strong bonds. He knows the intentions of those who hide secrets, the whispers of those who whisper, the thoughts that are imagined and baseless, the certain intentions settled in hearts, the signals of eyebrows (under) eyelashes, the things hidden in the depths of hearts and the depths of the unseen, and (He is the hearer of) those sounds for hearing which one must bend to the openings of ears, and He is aware of the dwellings of ants in summer and the places where earth's insects spend winter, and He is the hearer of the resonance of the wails of women who have lost their sons and the sound of footsteps, and He is aware of the places of fruits' growth in the inner cavities of green leaves' coverings, and the caves of mountains and their depressions where wild animals take refuge, and the holes in tree trunks and their barks where mosquitoes hide their heads, and the places where leaves sprout in branches, and the places of sperm in the passageways of loins, and the layers of clouds rising from the earth, and the clouds connected to each other, and the layers of clouds piled on top of each other from which raindrops fall. And the particles of sand (desert) that whirlwinds have blown from their skirts, and the marks that floods of rain have erased, are in His knowledge, and He knows the movements of earth's insects on sand dunes and the nests of birds with wings and feathers on the peaks of high mountains, and the warbling of birds in the darkness of nests and homes, and the things that shells have gathered, and the things that sea waves have pressed under their sides, and the things that night (dark covers) have covered, and the things on which the day's sun has scattered light with its rays, and the things on which layers of darkness sometimes settle and streams of light sometimes flow. He recognizes every footprint's mark, every thing's sense and movement, every word's resonance, every lip's movement, every living being's place, every particle's weight, and every living being's sobbing sound, and whatever is on this earth, all is in His knowledge. Whether it is the fruit of trees or a falling leaf, or the place of sperm or congealed blood and clot, or (after that) the created being and the born child, (in knowing these things) He does not have to bear difficulty and fatigue, nor does He face any obstacle in protecting His creation, nor does laziness and weariness afflict Him from running His commands and managing creatures. Rather, His knowledge has penetrated into these things, and each thing is in His count. His justice is all-encompassing, and His grace includes everyone, and along with this, they are incapable of giving Him His due right as He deserves. O God! You alone are worthy of description and praise and being praised to the utmost degree. If hope is placed in You, You are the best support for hearts, and if hopes are tied to You, You are the best spring of hope. You have given me such power of expression that I do not praise or extol anyone other than You with it, and I never want to turn my praise toward those people who are centers of despair and places of bad thoughts. You have turned my tongue away from praising humans and extolling hidden creation. O Lord! Every praiser has the right to receive bounties and honors and gifts and generosity from his praised one. And I am sitting with hope from You that You are the one who points to the stores of mercy and the treasures of forgiveness. O God! Before You stands the person who has considered You unique in Your oneness and unity, and has not considered anyone other than You worthy of these praises and extollations. My need is connected to You. Only Your bounties and successes can cure its destitution, and only Your generosity and favor can support its poverty and need. Grant us Your satisfactions in this very place and make us needless of extending the hand of request to others. You are the One who has power over everything.